Chapter 8: Reading the Map and Complications
As soon as Billy introduced their mysterious rescuer, Namarri saw the others move to kneel quickly. She said, "As you were, all of you. That's enough of that here on your world."
"Sorry, Lady Phoenix. We were taught by Zordon to be respectful to rulers on the side of goodness," Tommy explained.
"As well he should, but it'd be respectful to me if you treat me as one of you. On that note, call me Namarri."
"What has happened to Phoenix Llyra?" Zordon asked.
Her expression became sad as she said, "She passed a fortnight ago."
"I see. My condolences to the Vallan people."
"Thank you." She looked about her and said to the Aquatian, "And you are?"
"Ontol, Lad—Namarri," he replied, "I own the mine. I came here to deliver the Essence Prisms and see the child that this is all for. I was told that it was not safe for me to return home."
"Well, it is now," she replied, "Thank you for your cooperation and your help."
"Save her and defeat the one responsible, and that will be thanks enough. Take care," he replied, saluted, and as soon as Alpha had activated the teleporter, he was gone.
"Zordon, I found out who made this monster," Billy said, "Namarri told me. It's-"
"Yes, I learned the identity as well, from Clairie."
"Clairie told you?"
"Apparently, she had managed to get that information from the parasite within her. The one who had this abomination made was-"
Billy and Zordon said at the same time, "Rita Repulsa."
The Rangers looked shocked, though Tommy and Kat were furious.
"Rita did this?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, Tommy. This was before either you or Katherine became Rangers. From what I'm putting together, right after the original five became Power Rangers-"
Namarri continued, "Rita Repulsa had that monster made to cull the herd, so to speak, and to prevent any more Earthers from becoming Chosen. She must have had a plan to destroy your Chosen around the same time, or she wouldn't have set that up."
"She did," Billy replied, "Around the same time was when she tried to trap us in a time warp. We managed to escape before the portal back closed." He closed his pain-filled eyes as he continued, "Three days before then was when Clairie-"
"That's enough," Zordon cut in, "We know now how this came to be. Now we need to extract the monster and save your sister."
"Now, I'll help you set up the prisms and the Fluid to get the parasite out of the girl. Before I do though," Namarri paused, then turned towards the tube, "Zordon?"
"Yes?"
"I wish to Read your Chosen. With your permission, of course."
"Read us?" Billy asked.
"The Phoenix, in all hosts, has the ability to read people with power signatures, like one of your road maps. With it, she is able to tell the future of not only Rangers, but their powers as well. Readings from the Phoenix are very rare and for the most part, are not discussed with anyone but their Sentinels. Namarri, I'll allow it."
"Thank you. When I come up to each of you and ask for it, give me your name."
The others nodded.
"Power down first, or it will interfere with the Reading."
Once they complied, she walked up to the Red Zeo Ranger and said, "You. Your name?"
"Tommy Oliver."
She peered at him for a moment, then said, "Hmm, interesting. You've been on the paths of Evil, then Good, haven't you?"
"Yes," he replied, feeling old shame rise to the surface.
"Don't worry so much. The shame will never disappear, but you've redeemed yourself, and then some," she replied with a kind smile. She then walked to the Blue Zeo Ranger. "And you?"
"Rocky DeSantos."
She nodded, then stared at him for a moment before moving on. She addressed the Green Zeo Ranger, "Now for you."
"Adam Park."
She looked at him for a quick moment, then murmured, "Interesting," before going to the Yellow Ranger. "Now how about you?"
"Tanya Sloan."
"This is unusual," Namarri said after a moment, "You're not from here."
"No, I'm not."
"Hm," she said, then walked to the Pink Ranger. "Now you."
"Katherine Hillard."
After looking at her, the Vallan said, "You've got the same past as Tommy."
"How'd you know that?" she asked.
Namarri chuckled, but did not reply. She then looked directly at Billy.
"Namarri, are you sure? He is no longer a Ranger."
"I know, Billy told me. But he is still one of your Chosen, is he not?"
"Yes," was the reluctant reply.
What did Zordon mean, asking if she was sure? Billy thought, then as she walked towards him he realized, Does she want to Read me as well?
When she stood in front of him, the young man merely said, hoping that he hadn't mistaken her intentions, "Go ahead. Billy Cranston."
She nodded, relieved, then peered at him. A look of surprise crossed her face. "Remember this always, Billy: when one door closes, others open. You will be an active Chosen again."
Zordon blinked, surprised.
She took a step forward, as though getting a closer look at something. A moment later, the look of surprise turned into one of shock.
"Y-you..." she stammered, then turned to Zordon as she tried to hide her expression. "Wait for me in the medical wing, Chosen. This I discuss with your Sentinel alone."
As soon as everyone had left the main room of the Power Chamber, her tone turned to one of disbelief and disapproval as she asked, "Why didn't you send word to me that you were...in this shape?"
"There would have been nothing that even you could have done."
"Don't be so sure. Do the names Celia and Frelia mean anything?"
"How do you know of them?"
"Five hosts back, those two and an Eltaran boy paid me a visit. The girls mentioned that their uncle had been trapped in a time warp, and they sought my help. I wish I had made the connection back then between the trapped uncle and you. As it was..."
"What happened to them?"
"Celia's fine, the last I heard. But the other girl will not be returning, ever."
"Has she passed?"
"She's become the Eternal Host."
"I see." There was a pause, then Zordon changed the subject. "The Readings?"
"Yes. I'll start in the order that I went," she replied, "Tommy's got an interesting past and future. In the past Map, I saw Green, tinged with Evil, then White and Red in the present one. Further down, I saw Red in another spot, then for a long line, with no color, only for it to change to Black, with no evil at all."
"It seems that the Power is not done with him yet."
"Agreed. Now, for Rocky. I saw the color Red in two different parts of the Past Map and Blue in the present one. However, soon, his color will fade to nothing."
"Are you telling me he will soon d-"
"No. If that were the case, that line of the Map would have had different marks. It just means that he will not be an active Chosen for much longer."
"It's a relief that death will not be the reason for that."
"Indeed. Now, Adam. In his case, I saw Black in two different places on his Past Map, and although later there will be no color, there will be a period where Black comes back into play."
"That's interesting...and disturbing."
"Yes, it is. About Tanya, you have some explaining to do. Why did you allow someone from the past into the present?"
"I take it Billy told you about the time when the entire planet had time reversed?"
"He did. That was recently, if I remember correctly."
"Yes. The previous Yellow Ranger had decided to remain in the past to help the animals and people, and to send Tanya to the present in her place."
"I see. Then it could not have been helped. Her Future Map has almost no color to it at all, so it will only be for a while that she will be a Chosen." she replied, dismissing that subject, "Now, Katherine has the same past as Tommy, as you know and heard. Unlike him, though, I do see Pink in the Present Map and only a little into the Future Map, before it fades away. I should tell you now, though, that she, Tanya, Tommy and Adam's current colors will fade away at the same time."
"I see." Zordon paused before asking, "And Billy? I saw your reactions to his Map."
"I'm very shocked," she said, "I told the truth when I said that he will become an active Chosen again. However, you should know this: where most Maps of a Chosen are straightforward, Billy's is layered."
"Layered?" he asked, alarmed.
"Yes. I call it layering because it reminds me of the layers to things like cakes, onions, and so on. Before today, I have only seen Layered Maps in three beings: Celia, Frelia and the Eltaran boy I mentioned before."
"What more can you tell me about Layered Maps?"
"A lot of the lines, actually almost all of them, are false. It's almost like the false lines are fog, or smoke that distracts the true ones. It takes a lot of training and experience to tell the fake ones from the real."
"This is disturbing indeed," Zordon remarked, "Just what is in store for him?"
"I don't know—" she said, then peered at him, almost out of habit. Her eyes widened with shock and sorrow.
"Is something wrong?"
"I'm sorry, Zordon. I accidentally Read you," she admitted, "I forgot to turn off the Reading ability. I also forgot that Sentinels can also be Read."
"It's all right. This host of yours is still new at all of this. I would rather not know what you read, though."
"I'd rather not tell you, either."
"Are you going to Read Clairie?"
"No. I will not Read her until this situation is dealt with. Her condition is too unstable for me to get a clear Reading."
"I understand."
"Once we get everything started, we'll need to deal with not only the parasite inside Billy's sister, we'll need to find and destroy Rita's monster. For identification purposes, we'll call it Mother Parasite."
"The monster has been able to stay off of even our sensors. How are we going to find it?"
"I have an idea."
You're better off not knowing what's ahead of you, she thought as she discussed that idea, Your line doesn't have much left of it. A short distance into the Future Map, the line is severed, and at that cut, I saw a thin band of Red. This host and I will grieve on the day that it happens.
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In the medical wing, Billy was checking on Clairie when he heard a few stomachs grumbling loudly.
"Oh, shut up," he heard Tommy grumbling and the other chuckled sympathetically.
"I'll go get meals this time," Billy said, "What do you guys want?"
"You're not hungry?" Tanya asked.
"No, I had lunch on Valle with Namarri."
There was some good-natured grumbling from the other Rangers as they quickly gave him not only their orders, but also some money to get them with. Afterwards, he went into the main room just as Namarri was exiting and teleported down near one of the fast food places.
It was there that he heard a familiar voice that caused a strong flare of anger to arise.
"Hey! Billy!"
The young genius froze in his tracks but gave a warning growl, "You'd better leave me alone, Skull, if you don't want trouble."
"Huh?"
"You didn't think I wouldn't find out that you've been bullying my sister?"
"Your sister? Who're you talkin' about?"
"Do the words 'geek and freak' ring any bells?"
Skull paled at this.
"That kid's your sister? This's gonna make things easier and harder both."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd been looking for that kid, so I could, you know..."
"You could what? Terrorize her more?"
"No, to tell her that I'm sorry."
That made Billy blink in surprise and disbelief. "You, apologize for bullying? What're you up to, really?"
"Look, this is hard for me, 'kay?" Skull retorted, then took a breath, "I've got a niece that's turned seven recently. She's a real cutie, with black hair. This morning, there was one of those weird booms, over at Angel Grove Elementary School."
"Did you say weird booms?"
"Yeah, the kind where there's this loud boom, but ya don't see any explosions."
Don't tell me...
"My folks said that she can't talk anymore, just like your sister."
"Who all was hit by this?"
Skull took a breath and said, "Her whole class and maybe four kids from the class next door. I heard it was about fifteen kids all together. Hey, next time you see that kid, tell her I said I'm sorry, okay?"
"All right."
"And not a word about this talk to Bulk, or I'll deny all of it!"
"Agreed," Billy replied, "And Skull?"
"Yeah? What?"
"Thanks."
Billy got all the orders and quickly left for the Power Chamber. He had news to go with the food.
That monster needs to be stopped, quickly.
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When Billy teleported into the Chamber, he quickly gave the others their meals, then said, "Zordon, that monster attacked Angel Grove Elementary while we were busy."
"I see. How many?"
"Fifteen kids."
"That is not good. We must hurry. Namarri?"
Namarri came out of the medical wing as she was called. "Everything's ready to go. Before we start the process, though, Zordon and I have come up with a plan."
"What kind of plan?" Tommy asked.
"It has three parts. First, we use the Extraction Fluid and Essence Prisms you all collected to extract the parasite from Clairie's body."
"Once it's extracted, it will be confined into a field that Alpha has set up. From there, it will be destroyed," Zordon continued.
"Once that happens, it'll cause distress to Mother Parasite," Namarri continued, "Enough for me to find it. Then, I'll destroy it's cloaking abilities. Once it's visible, you Chosen will fight and destroy it."
"What about the victims from this morning's attack?" Billy asked.
"Once the mother is destroyed, the spawn will also be gone. They'll revert to normal."
"How do you know all of this? Aren't you just guessing?" Rocky asked, earning him a scowl from the other Rangers.
She calmly replied, "No. The Phoenix had the displeasure of coming across another version of this monster back on Valle, well over 10,000 years ago when Rita and Finster tried to take over that planet. When Billy described the attacks and their effects, I knew what was going on."
"So what are we waiting for?" Billy asked, "Let's get it started!"
"Billy," Namarri continued, tone becoming hesitant, "I must warn you this: when the parasite in Clairie's body is forced out, it will make what you would call a parting blow. If she isn't strong enough to withstand it, she will die."
"I-I see."
"She's fought this long, I'm sure she'll handle this too," Tommy reassured him.
"Yeah. She'll be fine," Adam added.
"Thanks guys," Billy said with a small smile.
"All right. The containment field is here, in the main room of the Power Chamber," she continued, "There are five laser weapons that Alpha brought out of storage. When the monster is contained, fire them at it to destroy it. Also, no matter what you hear, do not come into the medical wing until Zordon or I say to. The timing is crucial if we are to put a stop to the killings and save her."
"You got it," Tommy replied.
"As for you, Billy, stay in the medical wing with her and tell Zordon and I of any changes."
"Affirmative."
"Good. I suggest you eat quickly, Chosen. Time is of the essence. The longer we wait to begin, the less of a chance Clairie has to survive."
"We'll eat later. Like you said, she doesn't have that time," Tommy answered.
"True, but you fought a large battle already on an empty stomach. That's risky in and of itself, for obvious reasons. Trust me, you will need all the focus and energy you can get for dealing with Mother Parasite."
Adam asked, "How long do we have between using the fluid and the monster is extracted?"
"About ten to fifteen of your minutes. We've used this on humans before, out in the colonies."
"Use that time to eat, but keep the weapons close by and stay alert," Zordon ordered, "Namarri, go ahead and introduce the Extraction Fluid into Clairie's system via the IVs."
"I'll go and make sure she survives this," Billy inserted, then excused himself.
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Billy sat in a chair beside Clairie, watching her carefully. Namarri had carefully changed out the nutrients that the IVs were attached to and placed a container of the Extraction Fluid in its place.
"Clairie? Are you still here?"
"Yeah. I'm a bit tired, but I'm fine."
"We're going to get rid of that monster inside of you right now."
"Can I help push it out?"
"No," Namarri replied, "You can help by holding on and keep fighting."
"Okay-" she started to say, then they heard a very loud shriek, seemingly coming from everywhere.
Billy winced and saw her arching her back and jerking around.
"She's going into convulsions! Namarri, is this normal?"
"It is," she replied grimly, "The monster's inflicting that parting blow I mentioned."
"It hurts! Billy, something's ripping out of my chest!"
"Clairie, keep fighting, no matter what," he called out, then turned and saw a gray, smoky light going out of his sister's body, passing through the two Prisms that were set up, one behind the other. He looked on in horror as her body twitched and thrashed while the crystals changed from clear to black.
"Namarri, those-"
"I know. Once the creature is in the field, I will reverse the positions of the Prisms and cleanse them. They will change to white, then transmit the contents back into her. If she..."
"If she what?"
"If she lives that long, that is."
"Namarri, you mentioned you did this once before. Did the other child-"
She shook her head, "No. It was a Vallan boy, and the parting blow had struck him so hard that he didn't have enough essence left to-"
"That's enough," he interrupted, "I don't need to hear the rest." He turned back to his sister. "Clairie! Hold on, it's almost over!"
It had better be almost over!
There was another loud shriek, as well as another arching of her back as a large amount of gray light came out of her body and through the Prisms.
Good gods! That thing was almost ready to transfer everything to its mother! Namarri thought, this doesn't look good.
There was a final shriek as an even larger mass came out and went through the Prisms.
She looked back at Clairie, who was now very still, with nothing further coming out of her.
"Clairie? Clairie, are you all right?" Billy asked.
There was no answer.
"Clairie! Answer me!"
There was a faint sound over the system.
"Clairie? We can't hear you. What did you say?" Namarri asked.
"Bi...lly..."
"Clairie! Are you okay?"
"That...thing's...gone..."
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As the shrieking went on, Tommy and the others stayed right where they were, as hard as it was to not go into the medical bay where Namarri, Billy and Clairie were at. Once, Tommy started to go in, only to be reminded by Rocky and Katherine to stay put.
When they heard the final scream and saw the last mass of gray light enter the field, the Rangers picked up the laser weapons and hurried into a circle, surrounding it, before raising them.
"Zordon, transfer is complete. The parasite's materializing now."
"Rangers, when I say to, fire the weapons at the highest setting."
"We will," Tommy replied.
Within seconds, the area flashed on all sides as the gray light coalesced into a medium sized, gray circle, with long, gray tentacles all over it, and longer ones on the bottom. Noises that sounded like slush moving about and gurgling came from it.
"That thing's been in Clairie all these years? Disgusting!" Katherine remarked.
Zordon quickly said, "Rangers! Now, fire!"
5 laser weapons fired at one time. Within seconds, a loud shriek emitted from the monster as it vanished, turned into nothingness.
"We did it," Tommy said, "Now about-"
Right then, they heard Billy calling out, his voice near panicked.
"Zordon! It's Clairie! She's-"
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Right after Billy's sister had said that the monster was gone, Namarri looked at the monitor that showed her vital signs. Her expression was grim.
"Namarri, what's wrong?" he asked, "Don't tell me-"
"Bi...lly...I'm sorry..."
"Clairie, you've got nothing to be sorry for."
"I'm...sorry...I'm too...tired...I'm already...going to...sleep..."
Billy put her words together with Namarri's grim expression. When he realized what she was saying, his eyes widened.
"No! Clairie, don't go to sleep!"
"Too...tired...tell the...Rangers to...get rid of...the mama...for me..."
"I'll tell them, but don't go to sleep! If you do, you'll never wake up!"
"I know...I'm..."
Billy's eyes welled with tears as he said, "Clara Marie Cranston, don't you dare die on me!"
"Sorry...Billy..." could faintly be heard as she closed her eyes.
He shouted as loud as he could, near panic, "Zordon! It's Clairie! She's-"
Tommy called back, "Zordon's not here!"
Namarri said, "What?" and ran into the main room.
"Clairie? Clairie!" she heard Billy screaming behind her, followed by a single tone.
True to Tommy's statement, the energy tube was empty.